Cats and Cars

Hey all. It's been a rollercoaster of a week, that I can tell you.

The worst news was the death of my beloved cat Sleepy. Well, technically she was my brother's cat (her sister Mollie is my cat and still going strong), but the whole family loved her. She was more like a dog than a cat, and her big eyes always had this permanently surprised expression. She was dopey, but big and fat and cuddly.

Sleepy was 16 years old (in human years), so she had had a good life. But I still wasn't prepared for her death. Her decline was really sudden - it started when we got back from a holiday in the Snowy Mountains and got her out of the cattery. She hadn't eaten much and had lost a heap of weight. Over the next three weeks she just lost more weight, and parts of her personality, and finally began having renal failure. It was awful. The vet believes she had cancer, because her red blood cell count was too high. She was put down on Monday 2 August. I wish I could have been with her - I was at work at the time and didn't know. She's not suffering now, but I still expect to see her popping up at the top of the stairs, or hanging around your feet at the kitchen table eyeing off your bacon.

Love you Sleepy. Thanks for all the happiness you gave me through my formative years. :)

I've been working breakfast this week, which means 4am starts. It also means slacking off from the treadmill and eating badly. But it was worse when my car started making strange high-pitched whining sounds. Turns out the brakes are buggered. So began discussions of whether to fix brakes, which would cost at least $500, and pay rego ($300 for six months), or to go out and trade Astra for another car.

To cut a long story short, I've gone with the second option. Eeeek! This coming Monday I take delivery of a brand new Toyota Corolla Levin. You can see it here. It's a sterling silver colour - I was tempted to get black but you have to wash it ALL the time, and everyone knows how slack I am with keeping things clean.

It cost more than I originally wanted to spend, but I did get a good deal from my brother's car dealer friend (thanks Sean!) and it will be cheaper in ongoing costs (servicing, parts etc). The resale value on Corollas is also fairly high, so that's good. I looked at other cars - Honda Jazz, Mazda 3, Subaru Impreza and another Astra, but this one came up trumps in terms of value for money.

When I figure out how I might post photos on this site, I'll try to put one up of the new Clumsy Mobile!